HORACE SILVER QUINTET - SONG FOR MY FATHER

SONG FOR MY FATHER

HORACE SILVER QUINTET

SONGWRITER: HORACE SILVR

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: IT’S GOT TO BE FUNKY

LABEL: BLUE NOTE

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1964

"Song for My Father" is a composition by Horace Silver. The original version, by Silver's quintet, was recorded on October 26, 1964. It has become a jazz standard and is probably Silver's best-known composition.

Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s.

After playing tenor saxophone and piano at school in Connecticut, Silver got his break on piano when his trio was recruited by Stan Getz in 1950. Silver soon moved to New York City, where he developed a reputation as a composer and for his bluesy playing. Frequent sideman recordings in the mid-1950s helped further, but it was his work with the Jazz Messengers, co-led by Art Blakey, that brought both his writing and playing most attention. Their Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers album contained Silver's first hit, "The Preacher". After leaving Blakey in 1956, Silver formed his own quintet, with what became the standard small group line-up of tenor saxophone, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums. Their public performances and frequent recordings for Blue Note Records increased Silver's popularity, even through changes of personnel. His most successful album was Song for My Father, made with two iterations of the quintet in 1963 and 1964.

Several changes occurred in the early 1970s: Silver disbanded his group to spend more time with his wife and to concentrate on composing; he included lyrics in his recordings; and his interest in spiritualism developed. The last two of these were often combined, resulting in commercially unsuccessful releases such as The United States of Mind series. Silver left Blue Note after 28 years, founded his own record label, and scaled back his touring in the 1980s, relying in part on royalties from his compositions for income. In 1993, he returned to major record labels, releasing five albums before gradually withdrawing from public view because of health problems.

As a player, Silver transitioned from bebop to hard bop by stressing melody rather than complex harmony, and combined clean and often humorous right-hand lines with darker notes and chords in a near-perpetual left-hand rumble. His compositions similarly emphasized catchy melodies, but often also contained dissonant harmonies. Many of his varied repertoire of songs, including "Doodlin'", "Peace", and "Sister Sadie", became jazz standards that are still widely played. His considerable legacy encompasses his influence on other pianists and composers, and the development of young jazz talents who appeared in his bands over the course of four decades.

(First Chorus)

This little song for my father

Does things that no other

Can do

As I sing it to you

It has a rhythm and rhyme

That will fasten his memory

In time

As his beauty shines through

For through my mind and soul

My heart will always hold

A special place for him

It's true

(Second Chorus)

We bow our heads and we pray

Every day's Father's Day

Let's review

All that he means to you

Our mother's love is real nice

But old Dad sacrificed

For us too

Let us give him his due

We're very proud to be

In his biography

We sing this song for him

And you.